Website To Offer Free, Legal Music Downloads

The latest company looking to take a stab at the iTunes juggernaut will be called SpiralFrog, and it plans on competing by offering free music downloads from major artists. In fact, Universal Music Group (UMG) has already committed their music library to the project.

Naturally, someone has to pay for all of this – and that’s where the ads come in. Here’s an exerpt from the SpiralFrog website:

“SpiralFrog is a new online music destination, offering ad-supported legal downloads of audio and video content licensed from the catalogs of the world’s major and independent record labels.”

“SpiralFrog will be a secure environment where music lovers can satisfy their unyielding passion and thirst for music, entertainment, and information. Our site will be as multifaceted, smart, and current as the audience we hope to attract. An audience that we believe is the driving force behind the way music is created, discovered, and consumed today.”

SpiralFrog will also enforce copyright protection measures to prevent file sharing, which means that the mobile market might be affected.

At this point it’s tough to say whether or not SpiralFrog has a legitimate chance in a market dominated by iTunes and illegal music downloading. If the ads are too annoying and/or the music cannot be transferred to an iPod, SpiralFrog would undoubtedly fail.

SpiralFrog will debut in December 2006. It will be available in the US and Canada only.